Belkin unleashes overpriced USB 3.0 peripherals: PCIe card, ExpressCard and cables
By Darren Murph 
posted February 23rd 2010 12:34PM
posted February 23rd 2010 12:34PM
We've seen a few USB 3.0 peripherals pop up overseas, but by and large, the American market has been left to ponder the future of their transfers. Will they really be stuck with USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 (rest its soul) forever? Will no one rise to the occasion and provide the necessary gear to support the raft of SuperSpeed USB kit that's just around the bend? At long last, those restless nights are coming to an end, as accessory mainstay Belkin has announced today a foursome of devices to help you get every last MB/sec possible from your next external HDD. The SuperSpeed USB 3.0 PCIe add-in card ($79.99) gives your existing desktop a pair of USB 3.0 ports, while the ExpressCard adapter ($79.99) adds a pair to your laptop. Closing things out are a duo of USB 3.0 cables (A-B and Micro-B), both of which are available for $39.99 in a four foot run or $49.99 in an eight foot version. Mama always said speed didn't come cheap, and now you wish you would've listened. Don'tcha?
I'm waiting til USB 3.0 is a bit more entrenched before I build my next system. Hopefully I can order stuff by the end of the year. *fingers crossed*
@CRA1G
Ya know, eSata has been around for years and is waaay faster than USB3.0. And you can just hook up a raw HDD to it with an adapter if you wanted to.
@Kurian
I know eSATA is great, but will it be able to do the amount of things that USB 3.0 can? I'm not an expert, but I am guessing that it will not.
@Kurian But it isn't really hot swappable, and you have to have a separate power source. It also takes up an internal SATA controller. Oh, and it has a really crappy connector.
@Valicore
SATA (and eSATA) is and always been capable of being hot-swappable. Whether or not the HBA supports it is something else.
@Kurian
Speed:
eSATA 3G = 3.0 Gbps
USB 3.0 = 4.8 Gbps
eSATA 6G = 6.0 Gbps
Power:
eSATA = external
USB 3.0 = internal
Fastest SATA SSD access rates right now:
Read ~ 250 MB/s = 2.0 Gbps
Write ~ 180 MB/s = 0.560 ~ 1.44 Gbps
There is absolutely no way you will see a difference between eSATA and USB 3.0 right now. Even the fastest storage mediums are still barely approaching the 3.0 Gbps speed. The beauty of USB 3.0, compared to eSATA is that you don't need an external power source all the time. You would only need external power for those devices that need more power.
eSATA is garbage because it doesn't supply power. That's inexcusable in a standard that originated in 2004.
Belkin is ridiculous. A 1.5M VGA Belkin cable at PC World (UK) is £15, I was about to purchase one reluctantly however was distracted and didn't.
Later that same day I purchased a 3M VGA cable from ebay for 1p + 99p postage (£1).
@Javindo
I forked out that muck for a belkin phono cable but it is longer, more rugged and has lasted longer than the equivalent cheap cable and comes with a lifetime warranty. But i still consider myself conned.
@Javindo
Buying a Belkin cable is about the same as buying a Monster HDMI cable from bestbuy instead of online.
@Javindo yeah, my poor Mom bought a USB cable from Best Buy once for like, 40 bucks. The next day I took her to the 99 cent store and showed her the generic version. She was pissed.
@Javindo My Belkin cables and surge protectors have always lasted a lot longer than my generic cables and surge protectors. The only Belkin item that didn't last long was my TuneCast II.
@aschettler Oh, and none of them cost nearly as much as Monster Cable's crap, which lasted a hell of a lot shorter than any Belkin devices I have owned (other than the TuneCast).
At least VGA cables are analog and actually benefit from nicer quality stuff and ferrite cores (although if you're going to use VGA you probably don't want to pay -that- much for quality). Most anything digital only benefits if you need something really long.
@Valicore
Sounds like a touching family moment. Me and mom go to the 99 cent store.
Hmmm.. my graphics card has covered my pci-e x1 slot.
@(Unverified)
Sacrifice your graphics card for USB 3
@BGates
I'm sure you'd want me to sacrifice my privacy because you own my operating system too.
@Gamecheater
Just buy a better motherboard. Not that big of a deal.
Steve
Sent from my iPhone
@Gamecheater
Wrong guy, thats Eric Schmidt
this is a great opportunity for an outfit like monoprice to come in and own the USB 3.0 market
No kidding. A quick search reveals 6 foot cables for $2.70
Finally, a reason for my 2 PCI-e x1 slots to exist...
@someguy7234
My feelings exactly - took long enough!
I thought Asus do a twin Sata 6G with 2 USB3 ports for $40?
Here you go http://www.xpcgear.com/asus-u3s6.html - $36.
@dansus
Nice card \ find. Great value \ price!
@dansus Awesome, although their speed comparison graphic tickled me as they think there is a storage device that copies at 4.8GB/s. Also I presume a certain percentage of that is overhead?
I'll bet they get great reviews on Amazon!
What the hell is that last line? You guys are really phoning it in with these low-content advertisements.
Is the express card adapter ExpressCard 2.0?
I should surely hope so -- if it's only ExpressCard 1 thats a total ripoff and shame...Max speed of any ExpressCard 1 peripheral is about 225 MB\sec for the entire card.
@DoctarPeppar
Belkin's site confirms it -- the express card adapter is 1.0.
What a joke \ ripoff.
@DoctarPeppar
It's still 7.5 times faster than USB2.0
If you go to Related Posts on the right side of this page, Look at the article "Green House releases 3.0 Card blah blah blah" and notice that the two cards are exactly the same except for the color.
@Valicore
You are right, and both card look like this one that costs $30.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32407~r.21795226
Belkin is charging way too much for both the PCI-e Add-in card and the ExpressCard adapter. Similar companies out there are selling the same products for around $29-30 range retail, such as on PI Manufacturing, both products are priced way lower than the Belkin models, AND with Super-Speed to boot.
http://www.pimfg.com/Product-Detail/USB3-PCI-E
http://www.pimfg.com/Product-Detail/USB3-EXP-1
Amazon is already selling a product similar to this for half the price.
What a ripoff..
Is USB2 so bad? I have a 500GB drive and copy stuff over at a good speed.
It is always nice to go faster but I would need to get a new external HDD as well... BLAH.
Belkin = Expensive :D
USB 3.0 being internal power is not a must, its still the same situation as now with USB 2.0. Portable drives will get internal power but Desktop external not likely. unless desktop drive consumption goes below 1A. So not the best it can be. And traditional hard drives will probably never saturate SATA 3 Gbps so ESATA good and its not worth moving to USB 3.0.
Too bad Apple forgot the ExpressCard slots on 3/4 of its laptops.
Besides the cables, price is not bad at all for the new tech! Did you forget how much USB2 PCI adapters cost just a few years ago? :) There will be generic chep-o cables, and cards will go in price really fast.
Yeah its not bad at all. + theres motherboards coming out with it built in already. Will go down really quickly.
These guys have a nice list of usb3 compatible products
http://www.cut-rate-gizmos.com/14-usb-3